Launch Your Career on Linked

If you are a recent or soon-to-be college graduate, the odds are high that your preferred social media channels are NOT the ones you will need to power your new career.

My guess is that you haven't been spending your time on campus using LinkedIn to trade ideas with your friends, or posting decks on SlideShare to attract a following... but these are fantastic tools for finding a job and growing your career.

2.) Don't look for a job! Paradoxically, the best way to find a job is not to look for a job, but instead to look for ways to help others. I practice Kindness First, which means the first thing I do every day is to help others, by sharing their content, introducing them to others, or giving them free advice.

Use LinkedIn and SlideShare to demonstrate your expertise in a helpful manner. This both means adding comments to existing content, and also uploading your own content.

3.) Don't sell yourself short. You're not a "kid" just starting out, but rather a smart and curious adult who just spent four years focused on intellectual growth. Do you have any idea how valuable this is to professionals who no longer have this luxury? You've been able to amass fresh ideas from a diverse range of subjects; now translate this knowledge into insights that others can leverage.

4.) Be persistent! If my math is right, I'm the single most prolific writer out of LinkedIn's 300 million members. My first posts competed against those from Richard Branson and President Obama; mine received .00001% of the readers theirs did. But I have an advantage! They have big jobs, and I do not.

I kept writing while they focused on making a billion dollars and being the Leader of the Free World, respectively. You have the same advantage. Don't just create a few pieces online. Post a few pieces every single week.

5.) Never stop tinkering. In October, I uploaded a SlideShare called How to See the Light in Others (see below), and wasn't satisfied with how it was doing. Over the first week, I changed that SlideShare five times (here's how). Today, it has over 2 million views. Keep improving your work until it gets the results you want.

6.) All it takes is ONE. You don't need to attract 10,000 followers. You don't need to be famous. All you need do is use LinkedIn and SlideShare to attract ONE person or company who provides the perfect opportunity for you. Focus on quality, not quantity. Attract the right kind of people with ideas that matter to you. Say what you want, not what you think others want to hear.